Re: Burp Guns

["Young Kim" <ysk@kimsoft.com>]

Interesting piece of history.

Burp guns are called 'ddabal-chong' in Korean.  It can be translated as
many-shot guns or ddabal guns, ddabals refers to discs made of cloth or
straws that women place in their head to steady/cushion loads on their
heads.  The ammo disks resemble ddabal.

There is a photo of Kim IS & Co. holding the first batch of ddabal-chong in
1949.  I believe NK began making burpguns in 1949.


ysk


----- Original Message -----
From: John Baker
To: KOREAN-WAR-L@raven.cc.ku.edu
Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 7:15 PM
Subject: Burp Guns


    In 1954-55-56, I was assigned to the 84th Ordnance Det[TI], at Tokyo
Ordnance Depot. Among our duties was to maintain the inventory of captured
enemy weapons evacuated from Korea & to ship those items, identified as
having technical/ or intelligence value, to CONUS. Ed is correct in his
info, except that the Soviet 7.62mm PPD SMG was already obsolete & was not
recovered, in Korea The Soviets gave the tooling for the 7.62mm PPSh-41 SMG
to both NK & the Chicoms circa early 1950, & both immediately started
producing SMGs. However, in their usual fashion, the Soviets gave the
tooling for the latest version to the Chicoms & the earlier version [which
used the 71 rd drum magazine] to NK. In the early fall of 1950, the US
decided to confront the Soviets, regarding their materiel support of NK, at
the UN. Ord TI was directed to ship samples of Soviet produced weapons, for
this purpose. The NCOs went to the nearest pile of captured weapons &
selected 2 7.62mm PPSh-41 SMGs, which were clearly marked "1950". When this
evidence was displayed at the UN, the Soviet representative examined the
weapons & stated, very emphatically, "Not made in USSR!". They were, of
course, brand-new NK manufactured weapons. All new Ord TI personnel
subsequently received intensive instruction in identification of equipment.